As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software resources that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An option read-only memory (option ROM) is a firmware component associated with an add-on resource in an information handling system that permits an independent hardware vendor to supply additional firmware to initialize and configure the add-on resource. A typical add-on resource includes a network interface card (NIC), a disk drive controller, or other devices on an information handling system. Option ROM also serves to extend the functionality of the basic input/output system code or extensible firmware interface code (BIOS/EFI), providing an interface between BIOS/EFI and the add-on resource. The option ROM may be in a non-volatile read only memory on the information handling system, or in a non-volatile read only memory on the add-on resource. Typically, the add on resource includes configuration option settings that vary the behavior of the add-on resource, and that can be changed through a user interface that permits an operator to set the configuration option settings. An operator can use a management station that is coupled to a management controller in the information handling system to access the user interface for an add-on resource in the information handling system.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.